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The Austrian government has finally put its cards on the table on the Austria online gambling licence regime that will replace the country’s decades-old monopoly, publishing a draft amendment to the Glücksspielgesetz (the Austrian Gambling Act) for public consultation.
This draft is the first real look at how the new licensing system is meant to work in practice. Credit for the detailed analysis below goes to my DLA Piper colleagues in Vienna, Armin Redl, Claudine Vartian and Nicole Daniel, whose original client alert (available here) this post builds on.
Stakeholders can submit comments on the draft until 15 July 2026, before it moves through the Austrian parliamentary process. The text can still change, but it already gives a solid picture of where the government is heading.
From a Single Monopoly to Multiple Licences
The core of the reform is the end of Austria’s online gambling monopoly and its replacement with an unlimited multi-licensing system. Today, only one operator can legally offer online casino products in Austria; under the draft, any number of operators could apply for an Austria online gambling licence, provided they meet strict regulatory conditions.
Importantly, the government is at pains to describe this as channelling existing demand into a supervised environment rather than as market liberalisation. The stated goal is consumer protection and stronger enforcement against illegal operators, not a simple opening of the taps.
Player Protection Sits at the Centre of the Reform
Consumer safeguards are the backbone of the proposed regime, and the draft leans heavily on measures already familiar from other European markets, including:
- mandatory player protection duties and behavioural monitoring;
- a cross-operator exclusion register shared across licensees;
- a supervision system spanning the whole online gambling sector;
- age-linked deposit and spending limits; and
- tighter regulatory oversight and reporting duties.
On deposits specifically, the draft sets a weekly ceiling of EUR 250 for players under 26, rising to a monthly cap of EUR 1,680 for players aged 26 and over. Players who have turned 23 could be granted higher limits under a risk-based approach, but only where there is no sign of gambling-related harm, and any increase must come with extra safeguards attached.
Enforcement gets a serious upgrade too. Regulators would be equipped with website blocking, payment blocking targeting illegal operators, public blacklists, and expanded investigative powers — a clear signal that market opening will be paired with a harder line on operators who stay outside the system.
Licence Duration and Who Can Apply
The licensing model starts with a probationary phase: the first Austria online gambling licence would run for up to five years, with renewals available for up to ten years thereafter.
To qualify, applicants would need to:
- be set up as a stock corporation or limited liability company with a supervisory board;
- have their seat in Austria or another EU/EEA Member State;
- hold paid-up share capital of at least EUR 10 million;
- demonstrate regulatory reliability and integrity; and
- pay a EUR 300,000 fee for the initial grant of the licence.
In short, the bar is set for well-capitalised, highly compliant operators — not a low-cost entry point.
The Grey Market Faces a Harder Road
Operators that have served Austrian players without a local licence face the toughest part of the reform. The draft does give them a path into the regulated market, but only if they can show that all overdue, non-time-barred Austrian gambling tax liabilities have been paid, all final Austrian court judgments obtained by players have been satisfied, and Austrian civil judgments are enforceable in the operator’s home country. For many international operators, that will mean significant legal and tax due diligence before they can even submit an application.
A Dutch-Style Cooling-Off Period
The draft also borrows a page from the Dutch market-opening playbook: a cooling-off mechanism designed to push operators out of the grey market before the regulated regime launches. Operators offering unlicensed online gambling to Austrian players must stop by 1 January 2027 and stay out of the market until they hold an Austrian licence. Exiting later triggers an 18-month exclusion period, stretching to 24 months for operators still active after 31 December 2029.
What This Means for Operators and Pending Litigation
For operators eyeing the Austrian market, this draft is the first real basis for assessing what a licence will actually require, commercially and legally. But the consultation is still open, and the framework could shift before it becomes law — so anyone with a stake in Austria should watch this closely and consider responding before the 15 July 2026 deadline.
There’s also a knock-on effect for the wave of player litigation against foreign operators that has defined the Austrian market in recent years. The reform doesn’t try to wipe out player claims, but it does set a hard cut-off: any operator wanting an Austrian licence must stop unlicensed activity by 1 January 2027 and satisfy every final Austrian court judgment obtained by players before a licence can be granted. Litigation is unlikely to vanish overnight, but this could realistically mark the beginning of the end for the historic grey-market disputes.
If it passes largely as drafted, this would be one of the most significant overhauls of Austrian gambling regulation in decades — opening real commercial opportunities for licensed operators while pairing that access with some of the toughest player-protection and enforcement standards in Europe.
On a similar topic, you can read the article Spanish Gambling Law Reform 2026: Public Consultation on Preliminary Draft Amending Law 13/2011. Also, you can read about the different gambling regimes in almost 50 jurisdictions in the DLA Piper Gambling Laws of the World guide.